Steph Curry has ended his sneaker free agency, and he didn’t go back to an American brand. The Golden State Warriors superstar has signed a 10-year partnership deal with Li-Ning, the Chinese sportswear giant, in one of the biggest endorsement signings in basketball history. 

The four-time NBA champion and Li-Ning will co-develop Curry Brand products across basketball, golf and lifestyle, with plans to open Curry Brand stores in both the US and China. The deal is worth US$400 million over 10 years, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania — and notably, it wasn’t even the most lucrative offer Curry received. He left more money on the table to go with Li-Ning.

“This is bigger than a shoe deal, bigger than a signature series,” Curry said. “This is the partnership of a lifetime. The future of Curry Brand is with Li-Ning.”

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Marketing consultant Wei Kan called it a step beyond standard endorsement deals – one that hands Curry’s entire branded line to Li-Ning, setting “a real marker for the industry.” Linda Yu from marketing agency Red Ant Asia went further, calling it a “landmark victory” proving Chinese sportswear can now go head-to-head with Nike and Adidas for the world’s biggest names.

The deal that didn’t come without controversy

Li-Ning merchandise was banned in the United States in 2022 after the company was identified by the US government and human rights groups as being linked to North Korean forced labour. Republican congressman Chris Smith, who co-chairs the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, has since called on the Department of Homeland Security to examine Li-Ning imports, stating that athletes “cannot suggest that they stand for social justice at home while cashing checks from companies tied to the Chinese Communist Party’s forced-labour economy.”

Curry has not publicly responded to the allegations. Li-Ning has denied wrongdoing. The ban and the deal existing simultaneously raise questions that neither side has fully answered – and that will likely follow this partnership long after the announcement headlines fade.

 Li-Ning was founded by an Olympic champion –  here’s why that matters

Li Ning, the Olympic gymnast, is central to this deal. When he founded the brand in 1990, he was a 26-year-old athlete known across China as the Prince of Gymnastics. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles – the first Games China had participated in since 1952 – he won three gold medals, two silver and one bronze, becoming the most decorated athlete at those Games. He later lit the torch at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Li parlayed his sports career into a sportswear company generating around $4 billion in annual revenue, operating more than 7,500 stores across Asia. Now he has the greatest shooter in NBA history wearing his brand.

Who else is signed with Li-Ning?

Li-Ning’s NBA courtship didn’t start with Curry –  it started two decades ago. In 2006, the brand signed Shaquille O’Neal to a five-year contract, a bold bet at the time and almost quaint by today’s standards. Then came Dwyane Wade, who signed with Li-Ning in 2012 and later upgraded to a lifetime deal, building out an entire line – the Way of Wade –  that has become one of the most respected signature series in the sport. Today the roster also includes Curry’s Warriors teammate Jimmy Butler, CJ McCollum, D’Angelo Russell and Fred VanVleet.

It was, fittingly, Li-Ning’s own roster that helped land Curry. During his season of sneaker-free agency, Curry wore Butler and Wade’s signature shoes on court and said he saw firsthand that the brand could deliver on performance.

What happened to Curry’s Under Armour deal?

Curry spent 12 years with Under Armour, helping turn a relatively unknown performance brand into a genuine basketball powerhouse. The partnership ended last November, and what followed was one of the most entertaining storylines of the 2025-26 season. 

Freed from any brand obligation, Curry wore 81 different pairs of shoes throughout the season – from Nike Kobe silhouettes to Puma Haliburton to retro Jordans – and auctioned the lot at Sotheby’s, raising US$1.7 million for his Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation. Every choice was intentional. When he wore the Air Jordan 12 ’Flu Game,’ he made sure to do it against the Jazz. The top seller, a Nike Hyper Dunk Christmas Day PE, went for US$121,600.

It was part fashion show, part farewell tour, part audition process – and Li-Ning won.

Anta is doing the same thing – Klay Thompson, Kyrie Irving and a US$1.8bn Puma stake

Li-Ning isn’t the only Chinese brand rewriting the NBA endorsement playbook. Rival Anta has been running an equally aggressive strategy. Earlier this year, Anta signed a lifetime partnership with Klay Thompson –  Curry’s former Warriors teammate and fellow four-time champion. Both halves of the legendary Splash Brothers backcourt are now with Chinese sportswear brands.

Kyrie Irving not only signed with Anta but was named the company’s chief creative officer, while Lakers guard Austin Reaves partnered with smaller brand Rigorer to launch his own signature shoe line. Anta’s full roster also includes Gordon Hayward, Alex Caruso and Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett.

Off the court, Anta’s ambitions are even bigger. In January 2026, it acquired a 29 percent stake in Puma for a US$1.8 billion (€1.5bn), becoming the German brand’s largest shareholder –  adding to a portfolio that already includes Arc’teryx, Salomon and the Chinese rights to Fila. 

Why are global stars from Ronaldo to Daniel Craig choosing Chinese brands?

The shift extends well beyond basketball, and Cristiano Ronaldo is the clearest proof of how far it has spread. The most followed person on social media has signed with Dreame, a Chinese home appliance brand –  a deal that would have seemed unthinkable five years ago, when Western luxury and sportswear labels dominated elite athlete endorsements. Dreame isn’t selling trainers or performance gear. It sells vacuum cleaners and hair dryers. The fact that Ronaldo’s commercial team said yes tells you everything about how Chinese brands are now perceived at the top of the market.

Actor Daniel Craig has signed with Denza, BYD’s premium electric car label. Gordon Ramsay has fronted campaigns for Chinese food delivery platforms. The common thread is not the industry, it is the audience. China is home to an estimated 450 million NBA fans, a consumer base larger than the entire US population, and a middle class with growing spending power and fierce loyalty to brands they trust.

How long will Curry’s Li-Ning deal last, and what comes next?

The contract runs for 10 years, which means it will outlast Curry’s playing career. He is 38 years old, a point guard in a sport that rarely extends elite careers into the early forties. In other words, this is not a shoe deal designed around highlight reels and playoff runs. It is a business partnership built around what comes after –  the stores, the brand, the legacy.

Curry has visited China seven times during his career, drawing crowds that rival those for pop concerts. He understands the market in a way few American athletes do, and Li-Ning is betting that the trust he has built over those visits will translate into long-term commercial success on both sides of the Pacific.

Shaq’s deal with Li-Ning was worth US$1.25 million over five years. Nobody knows what Curry’s is worth, but the distance between those two numbers says more about where Chinese sportswear is headed.